Techland bringing zombies to Dead Island @ Gaming Target

Written by John Scalzo on August 08, 2007

News: Call of Juarez developer hears the siren song of horror.

Techland, the development house behind the recently released (and well received) western shooter Call of Juarez, has announced their next PC and Xbox 360-exclusive project. They've turned in their cowboy boots for the shambling shuffle of the undead with a game titled Dead Island.

Dead Island takes place on a "tropical paradise" overrun by a horde of zombies. Players will be tasked with surviving the island while trying to find out the secret of the zombie outbreak... all from a first person perspective.

The game will also take a page from Dead Rising with the ability to "use anything from your surroundings as a weapon." Other features include:

Ultra-realistic combat

Intense and amazingly realistic hand-to-hand combat based on dynamic character moves and camera angles

Realistic physical reactions of opponents to hits

Exceptionally faithful and detailed damage model, showing damaged skin, muscles and even bones

Innovative system of targeting and hitting the opponents gives you precise control and a realistic combat feel

Advanced Artificial Life (AL) System

AL system allows you to take advantage of instinctive behaviors of groups and individual opponents

Living, breathing and dynamically changing ecosystem faced with the destructive influence of a spreading epidemic

Realistic and spontaneous NPC behavior

Through your actions, actively influence NPC reactions

Non-linear gameplay

Explore a vast, open world of a tropical island, on foot or in vehicles

Freedom of choosing your allies and completing tasks that bring you closer to the finale

Player decisions influence the way in which the game progresses, making it a multi-threaded story

Fully Interactive Environments

The ability to use all elements of the environment as weapons

A liquid, gas and electricity physics simulation system, which allows you to create your own unique ways of eliminating enemies

Dead Island is currently scheduled for a 2008 release. We'll have more soon.